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Legal Ethics

A Judge Should Really And Truly Know Better

By Kathryn Rubino

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/ Dec 10, 2015 at 3:14 PM

Not an okay look for the office.

The Commission on Judicial Tenure and Discipline in Rhode Island is not happy with District Court Judge Rafael A. Ovalles. They just finished an investigation into the judge’s behavior, and they found his behavior violated the standard of judicial ethics. That’s no bueno.
So what did Judge Ovalles allegedly do? The full report is a treasure trove of weird and disturbing behavior — listen, when you read the allegation that the good judge asked a pregnant attorney before him if she’d eaten too much over the holidays or was pregnant and it doesn’t crack the top 10 terrible things he is accused of, you know you’re in for a doozy.
The Providence Journal reports that Ovalles has some… control issues, and he tends to take them out on women:

The commission documents Ovalles abusing a female public defender by berating her in open court, interfering with her job by creating rules exclusive to her, and confining her to her seat. It found that he publicly mistreated a deputy court clerk, including throwing a file at her in court.

Of course he also reportedly falls asleep in court, and is allegedly dishonest and tried to interfere with the Commission’s investigation — so we are dealing with a real winner. Allegedly.
And I’ve been saving the best — or at least the most disgusting — for last:

The allegations include that the clerk delivered a file to the judge’s chambers on two occasions only to find Ovalles sitting in his chair with his pants unbuttoned, his zipper down and his hand inside his underwear.
The commission’s report details an incident in which Ovalles let a female attorney get in front of him in line for a wake and then commented that he was enjoying the view from behind. Ovalles, it says, inappropriately asked the clerk if his shoes made him look sexy and told her she could come in and watch him “suck his lollipop.” She once knocked on his door and found him getting dressed. Another female clerk reported finding Ovalles sitting behind his desk with his pants hanging up behind him in clear view. Sheriffs and male clerks were often recruited to accompany female clerks into his chambers.

Judge Ovalles has 20 days to respond to the report, and a public hearing will follow. If even half this stuff is accurate, I see some disciplinary action in his future.
Commission: District Court Judge Ovalles sexually harassed female staff, lawyers [Providence Journal]

Topics

Judge Rafael A. Ovalles, Legal Ethics, Sexual Harassment, State Judges

19 Aug 2013 at 1:26 PM

Attorney Misconduct, Bad Ideas, Breasts, Lawyer of the Day, Legal Ethics, Sex, Sex Scandals, Sexual Harassment

Lawyer Allegedly Fondles His Clients, But ‘Only The Special Ones’

By Staci Zaretsky

Midwesterners may represent the most wholesome portion of our population, but their lawyerly brethren have allowed their libidos to get the better of them.
Take Kenneth Kratz, the sexting district attorney from Wisconsin who once notably told one of his victims, “You may be the tall, young, hot nymph, but I am the prize!” Another fine example is Reema Bajaj, a young solo practitioner in Illinois who pleaded guilty to engaging in prostitution (and was also accused of trading sex for office supplies).
Now we’re hearing about a public defender who was allegedly unable to keep it in his pants. Coles County Public Defender Lonnie Lutz held his position for 33 years before retiring in June. In the final years of his service as PD, he allegedly took advantage of the attorney-client relationship by repeatedly sexually harassing and fondling his female clients, but not all of them — “only the special ones.” The sweet nothings Lutz allegedly whispered to his “special” clients are quite… graphic in nature.
Is Lonnie Lutz just a horny old man? Let’s find out…

The Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission recently filed a complaint against Lutz alleging unwanted sexual advances toward women he represented as public defender. The Journal Gazette & Times-Courier does an excellent job of breaking down the charges, but stops short of describing the most outrageous allegations of them all — perhaps because they were too graphic to publish.
Here’s just a little tidbit of what Lutz’s clients allegedly experienced during their time with him:

Lonnie Lutz

“During their conversation, [Lutz] then stood up, reached over to [the woman] and hugged her, then kissed her on the mouth, and put his tongue in her mouth,” the complaint states. “[She] said nothing but did not return the kiss.”
Lutz then said he could work something out with the state’s attorney on her case, and started rubbing her back, the complaint states. He allegedly asked the woman if his rubbing her back “felt good.” She responded that the “whole thing” made her nervous and upset, according to the complaint.
“[Lutz] then reached down and touched [the woman’s] breasts, over her shirt and reached between her legs and rubbed her vaginal area,” the complaint states. “He then put her hand on his pants, over his erect penis, and said “see what you do to me?”

What she did to him was cause him to bring the legal profession into disrepute, at least according to the IARDC’s complaint. Another woman who had the (dis)pleasure of entering Lutz’s office asked him if he treated all clients the same way, to which she claims he replied, “Only the special ones.” Yet another woman alleges that when she asked Lutz if he had any Saturday appointments, he told her, “I do if there is a pretty blond woman.” Move over Ken Kratz, because it looks like there’s a new prize in town.
The most disturbing allegation of all can be found in the complaint. It seems Lutz had a special affection for the woman whose mouth he supposedly shoved his tongue into. Not only did he allegedly offer to tie her to a bed, but it seems like he wanted to give her some additional pro boner representation:

When [Lutz] and [the woman] were in his office following the court hearing, [Lutz] did not discuss her case. Respondent locked the door, and kissed [the woman] and again inserted his tongue into her mouth. [Lutz] touched [the woman's] breasts under her shirt, and touched her between her legs, over her pants. He also rubbed her shoulders.
[The woman] started to leave and [Lutz] asked her to come back the following Saturday “when no one was there.” [The woman] asked why, and [Lutz] said “I want to lick your pussy and suck your clit.”

Perhaps it was Lonnie Lutz’s member that needed to be tied down instead of his clients. We wish this cunning linguist the best of luck in his legal proceedings, because he’s probably going to need it.
Retired Coles County public defender Lonnie Lutz allegedly fondled 3 women [Journal Gazette & Times-Courier]
“Only The Special Ones” [Legal Profession Blog]
Retired PD is accused of fondling three clients, offering to tie one to the bed [ABA Journal]

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• Tags: Attorney Misconduct, Bad Ideas, Breasts, Coles County, Illinois, Illinois Attorney Registration and Disciplinary Commission, Lawyer of the Day, Legal Ethics, Lonnie L. Lutz, Lonnie Lutz, Penis, Public Defender, Sex, Sex Scandals, Sexual Harassment, Vagina, Vajayjay

12 Jun 2013 at 5:44 PM

Family Law, Sex, Sex Scandals, Sexual Harassment

Horrifying Video Of Alleged Sexual Assault While Family Court Judge Literally Looks The Other Way

By Elie Mystal

There is a disturbing video making its way around social media today. It’s a six-minute Family Court video from August 2011 of a woman who complains that a marshal sexually assaulted her in a back room. The woman becomes increasingly agitated as the marshal, who is in the courtroom, then arrests her for “making false allegations about a police officer,” all while the family court magistrate plays with the woman’s child, at least until the child begs the arresting officer to not take her momma away.
It’s really tough to watch. Even I became emotional while watching the clip. And the marshal has since been dismissed. Most of the internet outrage is focused on the cop. Me, I can honestly say that after watching this I wish nothing but the absolute worst for Clark County Hearings Master Patricia Doninger. I think I’d rather see Edith Jones on the Supreme freaking Court than have this person “preside” over a game of Family Feud, much less be within shouting distance of a family court…

The video is safe for work, but again feels more like a snuff film than a courtroom video. You’re watching a helpless person get violated by the system in real time:

KLAS-TV, which broke the story, describes what happened. A woman named Monica Contreras was in court with her daughter trying to vacate a temporary restraining order her ex-husband had sought to obtain. He didn’t show, and the order was denied, but here’s what happened next:

According to internal court documents, as Contreras was leaving, family court marshal Ron Fox ordered her into a waiting room for an unexplained drug search.
Contreras said Fox touched her buttocks, breast, and ordered her to lift up her shirt. A later internal investigation by Clark County courts validated her claims. Contreras went back into the same courtroom and told hearing master Patricia Donninger that her requests to have a female marshal handle the search were ignored.

Hearing Master Doninger won’t even look at Contreras. You can see it on the tape. During some of her complaints, Doninger is playing with Contreras’s daughter.
Then Fox decides to arrest her for “making false allegations about a police officer,” which is not a crime that anybody can find. Doninger does nothing. In fact, she physically turns her chair away from Contreras, as she doesn’t want to see the horror she is allowing to take place.
KLAS didn’t obtain the video until March 2013, though Contreras had filed a complaint with internal affairs sometime before that. Contreras filed a lawsuit in April, and Gawker posted the video today, which is why everybody knows about it now.
But it also means that Doninger has been sitting on the bench for almost two years since this incident, with no investigation, review, or punishment for her disgraceful behavior caught on video.
What kind of system are we running here? I get that bad people slip through the cracks. But it’s been two years and Doninger, this magistrate who literally turned her back on a woman who was molested in her own courtroom, still has a job?
Could we at least get somebody sitting in her courtroom tomorrow to make sure Doninger isn’t looking away as people are violated right in front of her?
I-Team: Taxpayers Could Foot the Bill in Alleged Sexual Assault [KLAS-TV]
Judge Ignores Pleas of Woman Arrested for Protesting Sexual Assault [Gawker]

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12 Apr 2013 at 1:22 PM

Attorney Misconduct, Crime, Legal Ethics, Sexual Harassment

Attorney Accused of Groping Client’s Mother

By Joe Patrice

Here’s an idea for an Ethics CLE — tell lawyers they can’t whip out “The Gavel” in front of their clients.
Or in this case, their clients’ mothers.
Now an attorney is facing criminal charges for gross sexual imposition for allegedly exposing himself and fondling a client’s mother. “Gross” is used in the sense of “flagrant,” but the whole story fits the other definition as well….

The attorney involved is Javier Armengau, and the police say he got a little grabby with his client’s family:

A prominent criminal defense lawyer in Columbus, Ohio, has been accused of exposing himself and fondling a client’s mother during a meeting in his office.
Lawyer Javier Armengau is free on bond on a charge of felony gross sexual imposition, according to the Columbus Dispatch. Armengau told 10TV that his accuser is “absolutely” lying, “without question.”
“This happened at 4 o’clock in the afternoon in my office with an open door,” said Armengau.
The woman making the accusations told the Dispatch she fled from Armengau’s office during the April 4 incident, but the lawyer nonetheless called her the next day and asked her to dinner. The woman said she recorded the conversation in which Armengau said she was a “hot mom” and he was just trying to relieve her stress.

So Armengau was representing Stifler? “Just trying to relieve her stress” is a bold excuse to offer. For that matter, if this story is true, you have to respect Armengau’s all-around gumption — after making someone flee your office, it takes some chutzpah to think, “Maybe she’s open to dinner?”
It turns out the woman agreed to the date, but only after getting a wire from the police to record the proceedings. When you think about it, wearing a wire is a questionable tactic when trying to surveil a groper, but I digress.
Police claim Armengau made “incriminating statements” during the date and arrested him. Now two more women have come forward with similar allegations.
Facing sexual misconduct charges from three accusers is a pretty nerve-racking event, so if you run into Armengau, be sure to grab his ass to help relieve his stress.
Lawyer Is Charged in Alleged Office Groping Incident; Will Tapes Support Prosecution? [ABA Journal]

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